The Recipe for Sunshine Tea

Not many people know this but I was born again once. It was during a difficult and troubled period in my 20s when I hoped that God might save me from myself. I fell in with some American evangelists based in West London - wholesome, clean cut and corn fed young men and women from the mid-West who all looked like they had stepped out of a Doris Day movie and might break into song and dance at any moment. They were great ads for cheerful, healthy living - and perhaps that was what drew me to them. They attributed it to the blessings of the Lord but it might just as easily have been a healthy diet, the love of their close-knit families and lots of fresh air and exercise.

So I hung out and enjoyed their community activities - or fellowship, to use the correct terminology - but, after awhile, I died again. However, a delight that still remains in my life from that period is Sunshine Tea. Anna (not her real name) was one of the lay leaders. Her role was to evangelise and mentor the young women who came to the church. She was wholesome and charming in that open prairie and "Oh, what a beautiful morning" way that only Americans can be. She talked to me about many spiritual things but the only thing I can remember is her recipe for Sunshine Tea.

In the summer, her Mom would put a jug of fresh water with two teabags out in the morning sun (and here, I’m picturing one of those white wooden houses with a porch and a swing). The sunlight would filter through the tea and after a couple of hours, Mom would put it in the fridge (presumably one of those giant ones with the ice machine in the front). And when the family came in throughout the day (okay, now it’s the Waltons running through the house in dungarees), there’d be iced tea without the scum on top if you had used hot water.

At that time, I lived in a flat in Central London and if I had put a jug out on the balcony, I would have got Carbon Monoxide Tea. So I skipped the sunshine part and put it straight in the fridge - and that works fine. I’ve also adapted it, using herbal teas instead of regular tea - strawberry or blackcurrant and vanilla work very well.

I still make Sunshine Tea now in the summer and it’s great after a long day out in the prairie working in the garden. Since I died again, I don’t go to church or sing happy clappy songs and I don’t call it praying but when I’m in my garden or walking in nature, I feel the tranquility of it all and that’s God enough for me.